Programs-Events

2019 HLC Annual Conference Art Contest

Vote for Next Year’s Conference Artwork

HLC received dozens of entries to its 2019 annual conference art contest and narrowed down the submissions to these six finalists. Vote for the design that best reflects the 2019 conference theme to help determine which one will be used in promotional materials for next year’s conference.

Submit your vote by Wednesday, February 28. The winner will be announced online and at the 2018 annual conference in Chicago, taking place April 6–10. The winning artist will also be awarded $1,500.

Theme: Roadmaps for Student Success

The 2019 HLC Annual Conference will focus on how institutions of higher learning can work with students to create roadmaps for student success. The conference will provide forums for discussion of innovative programming and support services that meet students where they are and help them achieve success. In addition, presenters and attendees will explore how accreditors can establish realistic definitions and measurements of success, reflecting students' goals for their education and institutions' unique missions while still ensuring accountability and educational quality.

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Select your favorite design by clicking the button to the left of the image:(*)

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Student Success Academy Application

Application Process Overview

Please read the following information before beginning your institution’s application.

Application Submission

The application deadline for the fall 2018 Academy cohort is May 4, 2018. Applications will only be accepted through the online form below; please do not send applications via email or on paper.

Please note: Information entered in the form cannot be saved until the form is completed and submitted; HLC recommends that you enter your responses and submit the form in one continuous session. Required questions are marked with an asterisk (*). You may wish to prepare your responses in advance and copy and paste them into the form.

The application must include contact information for a member of the institution’s faculty, staff or administration who will serve as the primary contact for HLC regarding the institution’s Academy participation. (If accepted, the institution may change its primary contact by providing notice to HLC at any time during its participation in the Academy.) The name and email address of the institution’s CEO are also required so that a confirmation of the application may be sent to the CEO.

Criteria for Selection to the Academy

Institutions applying to the Academy are evaluated and selected according to their demonstrated fulfillment of the following criteria:

Need prompted by current opportunities, challenges or barriers to student success.

Evidence that Academy participation would be significant and challenging to the institution and could result in a broad, meaningful impact on student success.

Alignment of Academy participation goals with the strategic priorities of the institution.

Expectations, commitment level and desired results appropriate to the purposes and intent of the Academy.

Application Questions

Please respond to the following questions. Each response should be no more than 200 words.

1. Provide a brief overview of the institution’s student populations.(*)

Please respond.

2. Provide a summary of the institution’s most recent efforts to improve student success, including which individuals or groups were involved. What data were used to inform decisions to pursue these efforts?(*)

Please respond.

3. Describe the institutional infrastructure in place to support students, in terms of offices, programs, procedures, and so forth. Who is currently engaged in providing support for students, and how?(*)

Please respond.

4. Describe the student success issues that led the institution to apply to the Academy. Why did the institution select the Academy as a means of institutional improvement?(*)

Please respond.

4a. If applicable: If the insitution previously participated in either of the HLC Academies, please indicate which Academy, the dates of participation, and how the institution’s current needs relate to its past Academy work, if at all.

Please respond.

5. How does participation in the Academy align with the institution’s current academic or strategic priorities?(*)

Please respond.

6. What human, financial and other resources has the institution committed to Academy participation?(*)

Please respond.

Institutional Contact Information

Please provide the name and contact information of the individual who will serve as the institution’s primary contact for HLC communications regarding this application.

Name:(*)

Please respond.

Position title:(*)

Please respond.

Office address:(*)

Please respond.

City:(*)

Please respond.

State:(*)

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ZIP Code:(*)

Please enter a valid ZIP code.

Office phone number, incl. extension:(*)

Please respond.

Office fax number:

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Email address:(*)

Please provide a valid email address.

Application Confirmation

Please review the entire application for accuracy and completeness before submitting it for review. Amended applications may not be accepted.

Please check the box to confirm the following statement:(*)

I confirm that this application represents the institution accurately and that the institution agrees, if admitted, to commit to meaningful and productive participation in the Student Success Academy for the full Academy cycle.Please respond.

For further confirmation, a copy of the application will be sent to the institution’s CEO. Provide the CEO’s contact information below.

Additional Resources

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Student Success Academy Fees

Registration for Academy events is included in the annual Academy membership fees. The first-year fees must be paid prior to participation in the Orientation webinars. Institutions will be invoiced for all subsequent years’ fees on October 1 of each year. More information on the events included in the fees is available on the Student Success Academy Experience page.

Three-Year Academy Experience and Membership

Year One: $11,000

To effectively guide and support each institution as it embarks on the Academy experience, the first year provides intensive programming, including two face-to-face events.

Orientation webinar series

Training and assistance with inventories of data on institutional components related to student success

Academy Information

Additional Resource

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Academy Scholars

In addition to the feedback and guidance provided by Academy Mentors, Academy institutions receive advice on their projects from Academy Scholars and Senior Scholars, who are experts in the areas of assessment of student learning and student success. They provide responses to project updates in the Collaboration Network and facilitate Academy events.

Senior Scholars

The Senior Scholars are responsible for leading the development and improvement of the curriculum for the Academy programs, in addition to providing mentorship to Academy participants. They give presentations on research and best practices in assessment of student learning and supporting student success at Academy and Workshop events and at the HLC Annual Conference.

Susan Hatfield

Professor Emerita, Winona State University

Susan Hatfield is Professor Emerita in the Communication Studies Department at Winona State University (WSU), where she taught from 1981 to 2015. During that time, she developed and directed WSU’s assessment program, served as a department chairperson, and coordinated the First Year Student Experience. She has recently completed appointments to the Board of Visitors for the Marine Corps University and the Board of Directors of the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology. Susan is currently a Trustee with the Palmer College of Chiropractic.

Gloria Rogers

Adjunct Director for Professional Development, ABET

Gloria Rogers serves as the Adjunct Director for Professional Development at ABET. She has organized 14 symposia on program assessment and accreditation that have been attended by faculty from 600 institutions around the world. In addition, she has written 35 assessment-related articles, given more than 100 invited presentations at national and international conferences, and facilitated workshops and seminars at more than 110 campuses. She has also given invited presentations, consultations and workshops in 31 countries, including a Fulbright Senior Scholar assignment in Lima, Peru.

Academy Information

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Student Success Academy Experience

The Student Success Academy is a structured, mentor-facilitated three-year program aimed at evaluating and improving institutional initiatives and structures that affect student success. The Academy was designed with input from HLC’s ongoing strategic initiatives on student success, through which HLC seeks to help institutions advance student success by improving retention and completion rates as well as defining and testing new ways of measuring success.

Academy Teams

Institutions participate by creating teams to attend Academy events and carry out the Academy Project. An Academy team is made up of five to eight individuals and should include members of the faculty, staff and administration. The Academy Orientation webinars provide guidance on selecting members and leaders of institutional teams.

Each team is assigned a Primary Mentor and a Scholar who provide support for the duration of the Academy experience.

Structure of the Academy

The Academy framework consists of live webinars, data inventories conducted on campus, and in-person roundtable events that help institutions methodically and holistically approach their student success challenges and opportunities, with dedicated time for teamwork, direction from the Senior Scholars and support from program mentors.

The program is built around a set of guiding questions that aim to identify the institution’s current realities, reveal areas of opportunity for improving student success and guide the institution’s work throughout the Academy experience.

Data analysis: Who are our students?

Current initiatives: How are we currently serving our students?

Policies and procedures: What infrastructure do we have in place to support students?

Engagement: Who is providing support to students, and how?

Year 1: Environmental Scan

Orientation: Through a two-webinar series, institutional members leading the Academy effort learn about the Academy’s framework and the expectations and opportunities that come with participation. The webinars will prepare the institution to build its Academy team and conduct the first inventory.

Data Infrastructure Inventory: The Academy team conducts an inventory of its current knowledge base on student populations in order to identify what data are available.

Current Initiatives Roundtable: The team attends this in-person, multi-day event to review the data infrastructure inventory in order to identify factors that correlate with student success. Senior Scholars and Event Facilitators will provide structure and direction to help teams recognize patterns in their data as well as criteria against which to assess the effectiveness of existing student success initiatives, which the team will inventory after this event.

Current Initiatives Inventory: The team inventories current initiatives at the institution that are designed to support student success.

Project Planning Roundtable: The team attends this in-person, multi-day event to review the results of the initiatives inventory. In consultation with Event Facilitators, the team plans an Academy Project that will either improve the effectiveness of an existing initiative or develop a new initiative to address an identified gap.

Year 2: Project Development Within a Community of Practice

Affinity Groups: The Academy team connects with other institutions working on similar projects in an online forum.

Project Updates and Responses: The team submits updates on its inventories and project development and receives feedback from its assigned mentor and Scholar.

Policies and Procedures Webinar: The team attends a live, interactive webinar presenting research on barriers to student success that may be unintentionally built into institutional policies and procedures.

Policies and Procedures Inventory: The team inventories polices and procedures at its institution that may be inhibiting student success in order to integrate possible solutions into its Academy Project.

Second-Year Mentor Consultation: The team meets virtually with its Primary Mentor to discuss the status of its Academy Project and efforts to integrate the results of the inventories.

Engagement Webinar: The team attends a live, interactive webinar presenting research on creating campus-wide engagement in student success efforts, with an emphasis on engaging faculty in the Academy Project.

Engagement Inventory: The team inventories people and offices currently working on student success efforts in order to identify opportunities to engage new stakeholders and create representation from across the institution.

Year 3: Project Implementation and Sustainability

Third-Year Mentor Consultation: The team meets virtually with its Primary Mentor to discuss the status of its Academy Project, with a focus on planning for sustainability of the project beyond the Academy.

Stewardship Forum: The team attends a final multi-day, in-person event to share its accomplishments and findings with other institutions, compare practices and benchmarks, and define strategies to sustain its student success efforts.

Impact Report: Each Academy team submits an Impact Report chronicling its work in the Academy and the improvements made to student success initiatives at its institution.

For institutions in the Open Pathway: The Impact Report validates the institution’s completion of the Academy and serves as the Quality Initiative Report.

Optional Activities

Academy members may choose to take part in optional services and activities to further support the development of their student success initiatives.

HLC Annual Conference

Institutions taking part in the Student Success Academy are encouraged to participate in HLC’s annual conference. Time slots are reserved during the General Program for institutions to showcase their Academy Projects and discuss common concerns with other Academy members. Additionally, there is Academy-specific programming for current Academy members and the opportunity to meet with the institution’s Primary Mentor for a consultation.

Extended Participation

Institutions may request to extend their Academy experience by one year if they feel additional work may be beneficial.